Private company
Logo: Helleborus, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons4
Swedish mining company, established 1890
Luossavaara-Kiirunavaara Aktiebolag (LKAB) is a state-owned Swedish mining company. The company mines iron ore at Kiruna and at Malmberget in northern Sweden. The company was established in 1890, and has been 100% state-owned since 1976.2 It is part of Government Offices of Sweden.1 Wikipedia text CC BY-SA 4.0
Last updated Oct 21, 2026.
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Luossavaara-Kiirunavaara Aktiebolag (LKAB) is a state-owned Swedish mining company. The company mines iron ore at Kiruna and at Malmberget in northern Sweden. The company was established in 1890, and has been 100% state-owned since 1976. The iron ore is processed to pellets and sinter fines, which are transported by Iore trains (Malmbanan) to the harbours at Narvik and Luleå and to the steel mill at Luleå (SSAB). Their production is sold throughout much of the world, with the principal markets being European steel mills, as well as North Africa, the Middle East and Southeast Asia. LKAB's mines supply at least 80% of Europe's iron ore.2
LKAB sits at the top of its group. 9 entities, 6 countries on record. Switch between the flow chart and the network, and select any entity to see its details.
Built from parent and subsidiary links from GLEIF, the Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation (CC0); subsidiaries, stakes and holdings from Wikidata (CC0). Each entity in the chart links to its source.
What LKAB reports owning in its annual reports to the SEC: buildings, land and equipment, real estate and locations, investments, intangible assets and inventory, at the end of its latest fiscal year and a year before.
Things Wikidata records the company as owning, with the share when stated.1
The company became state-owned in 1907.
1890 LKAB is founded.
1891 AB Gellivare Malmfält founded.
1893 AB Gellivare Malmfält bought LKAB.
1899 Ore line from the south reaches Kiruna.
1957 The government takes over LKAB to 96%. Traffic Grangesberg-Oxelosund (TGO) retains 4%.
1976 LKAB becomes a government-owned corporation.
From Wikipedia’s article on LKAB, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.5
Listed on Wikidata.1
As of 2021, LKAB has over 4,500 employees in 12 countries. There are iron ore mines, processing plants and ore harbors in northern Sweden and Norway, and a sales office in Germany. LKAB has subsidiaries for industrial minerals with processing plants in Sweden, Finland, the UK, the Netherlands, Turkey and China. Additional subsidiaries are in Germany, the US and Hong Kong as well as representative offices in Slovakia, Greece, Spain and South Africa.
LKAB's chief assets are among the magnetite orefields of northern Sweden. Its corporate headquarters are in Luleå and the main production sites are in Kiruna (Kiruna Mine) and Malmberget, close to Gällivare. The ore is partially processed on site, and is transported by freight train on Malmbanan to either Narvik or Luleå depending on final destination. LKAB has been ranked as among the 14th best of 92 oil, gas, and mining companies on indigenous rights and resource extraction in the Arctic. In 2021, LKAB was ranked no. 23 out of 120 oil, gas, and mining companies involved in resource extraction north of the Arctic Circle in the Arctic Environmental Responsibility Index (AERI). In 2026, LKAB found 7 billion tonnes of mineable iron ore, more than has been mined so far.
In January 2023, LKAB informed that the largest deposit of rare earth elements known in Europe to date has been discovered in northern Sweden. According to the announcement, the deposit contains over one million tonnes of material, which could be mined.
Approval procedures in industry often take ten years in Sweden.
It is likely to take at least ten to 15 years before mining can actually begin and raw materials can be brought to market.
In LKAB Report 2024, LKAB President and CEO Jan Moström wrote: "We are making efforts to use more of the materials we already mine in order to extract phosphorus and rare earth elements – critical minerals that are crucial for society."
From Wikipedia’s article on LKAB, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.5
From Wikidata.1 Ownership links from GLEIF, the Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation (CC0); each one cites its LEI record.
The numbers on this page point here. Each one links to the record it came from.
